Abstract: The collections consist primarily of letters, as well as poems and manuscripts, from various American and British authors
to American editor, publisher, and poet James Thomas Fields (1817-1881),
mostly relating to publication of their manuscripts by his firm Ticknor and Fields and in The Atlantic Monthly. The collection
also includes letters to Fields's wife Annie Fields (1834-1915) concerning literary matters.

Language of Material: The records are in English.

Administration Information

Access

The collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information,
please visit the Huntington's website:
www.huntington.org.

Processing Information

The collection was processed and a summary report first created in 1976, and revised in 1983. In March 2000, an initial EAD-encoded
finding aid was created and then updated in 2004. In January 2015, Diann Benti
created a box list for the collection and this updated version of the finding aid.

Publication Rights

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying
the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], James Thomas Fields Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Acquisition Information

The bulk of the collection was received as the gift of A. S. W. Rosenbach, 1922. FI 5097-5438 and FAC 1015 were received as
the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Bole Jr. in 1978 and 1986.
Boylston Beal, Gift, 1934 and 1936. FI 5447 was purchased from the Autograph Alcove, in May 1989.

Biography

James Thomas Fields (1817-1881) occupied an important position in the nineteenth century literary scene in his dual role as
editor of
The Atlantic Monthly and
publisher in the Boston firm of Ticknor and Fields. His career as publisher began in 1831, when he became a clerk for the
Old Corner Bookstore, which evolved into the firm of William D. Ticknor
and Company. During the forties, Ticknor and Co. began its rise to greatness, with extra impetus provided by its publication
in 1847 of Longfellow's
Evangeline.
Soon after, the firm also established relations with other New England writers such as Whittier, Lowell, Hawthorne, and Holmes,
each of whom contributed to the increasing prestige of Ticknor
and Co. Meanwhile, Fields began a corresponding rise, advancing to a junior partnership in 1843, though the firm retained
its title until 1849, when it became Ticknor, Reed and Fields. The title
of Ticknor and Fields came into being in June, 1854, and lasted until 1868, when reorganization changed the name to Fields,
Osgood and Company, with Fields as senior partner. Throughout his career
as a publisher, Fields was extremely successful in establishing good relationships (and in a great many cases, friendships)
with a large number of authors, both American and English. Through his
fair and generous terms in dealing with them and through his policy of protecting their works against piracy in spite of the
absence of any international copyright laws, he was able to attract
established, well-known writers to his firm, as well as many who would yet achieve fame. Fields succeeded also in obtaining
wide exposure of his firm's books by means of his extensive circle of
friends and acquaintances among editors and book reviewers. Chiefly as a result of his promotional talents, Ticknor and Fields
were able to develop a national market for their books and hence
to make Boston the primary center in the United States for the publication of literary works.

In his capacity as editor of
The Atlantic Monthly, Fields was no less successful. Created in May, 1857, the magazine was purchased by Ticknor and Fields two years
later. The following year, Fields took over the editorship of the magazine from James Russell Lowell. During Field's tenure
as editor, he continued to maintain the magazine's reputation for
dignity and integrity which Lowell had established, and his promptness and business acumen provided a marked contrast to Lowell's
sometimes casual methods. As in his role of publisher, Fields
dealt fairly and generously with
Atlantic contributors, inaugurating the practice of paying for articles when accepted rather than when published. Further, he
actively sought out new writers in an effort to broaden the appeal of the magazine, also accepting more pieces of light fiction
to ease the number of scholarly literary and historical articles.
Under his leadership, the
Atlantic significantly increased its circulation, becoming widely known throughout much of the United States and England, as well.

On December 31, 1870, Fields retired from business, partly because of health, but was able to continue his writing and lecturing.
He also continued to enjoy the many friendships he had formed
with authors and other literary figures. The Fields home, with James and his wife, Annie (Adams) Fields (1834-1915) receiving,
had become a delightful gathering place for literary people in
Boston. There were frequent visits from those in and around Boston, such as Dr. Holmes, who lived just down the street, and
there were guests from abroad -- those whom the Fieldses had met on
their several trips to England, and many distinguished visitors who were brought to the Fieldses to meet the Boston literary
circle. The story of the many hours spent with their literary
friends is told in their memoirs:
Authors and Friends, by Annie Fields, and
Yesterdays with Authors, by James T. Fields.

Following James Fields's death in 1881, Annie continued to receive her many friends, with the frequent companionship of Sarah
Orne Jewett, and continued her own literary activities until her death in 1915.

The collections consist primarily of letters from various American and British authors to James Fields, mostly relating to
publication of their manuscripts by his firm Ticknor and Fields and in
The Atlantic Monthly.
The collection also includes letters to Annie (Adams) Fields concerning literary matters. There are also poems, manuscripts,
and correspondence by and about the following individuals:
Thomas Aldrich, Charlotte Cushman, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jessie Benton Frémont, Edward Everett Hale, Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Julia Ward Howe, Helen Hunt Jackson, Sarah Orne Jewett,
Lucy Larcom, Sara Jane Clarke Lippincott (better known by her pen name Grace Greenwood), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Helena
Modjeska, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Celia Thaxter, Booker T. Washington and John Greenleaf Whittier.
The collection also contains essays, notes, speeches, notebooks, photographs, and articles. The collections chiefly deal with
the activities of Ticknor and Fields, as well as Fields' and his wife's own literary efforts.
The following authors are subjects in the collections: Robert Burns, Lord Byron, John Milton and Percy Shelley.

Note

Cards for individual items in the James Thomas Fields Papers are filed chronologically in the collection section of the Huntington
Library Manuscripts Catalogue and alphabetically by author in the main card catalogue.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically by author.

Significant persons represented in the collection

Manuscripts

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 2 poems

Ames, Charles Gordon, 1 poem

Andrew, John Albion, 1 poem

Bartol, Cyrus Augustus, 1 poem

Boker, George Henry, 2 poems

Boyd, Andrew Kennedy Hutchinson, table of contents

Brooks, Phillips, 1 prayer

Butler, Frances Anne (Kemble), group of poems

Cable, George Washington, fragment of novel

Carman, Bliss, 1 poem

Clarke, Mary Victoria (Novello) Cowden-, 1 poem

Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, 1 poem

Cooke, Rose Terry, 2 poems

Cooper, James Fenimore, fragment of novel

Craik, Dinah Maria (Mulock), preface and title page

Davis, Rebecca Blaine (Harding), 2 short stories

Duganne, Augustine Joseph Hickey, 1 poem

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, preface to work by Thoreau

Everett, Edward, 1 poem

Fields, James Thomas, 3 poems

Galton, Sir Francis, 1 poem (couplet)

Guiney, Louise Imogen, 1 poem

Hale, Edward Everett, 1 poem

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 2 essays

Hill, George Birkbeck Norman, 1 poem

Holmes, Oliver Wendell , 10 poems; 7 essays, 2 photographs

Howe, Julia (Ward), 3 poems

Landor, Walter Savage, 1 essay

Lanier, Clifford Anderson, 1 poem

Larcom, Lucy, 1 poem

Lear, Edward, 1 poem; 1 drawing

Lippincott, Sara Jane (Clarke), 1 poem; preface

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1 poem

Longfellow, Samuel, 1 poem

Lowell, James Russell, 2 book reviews; 1 essay

Martineau, Harriet, 2 essays

Mazzini, Giuseppe, 1 essay

Novello, Mary Sabilla, 1 poem

Osgood, Kate Putnam, 1 poem

Parker, Nathan, 1 sermon

Parsons, Thomas William, 3 poems

Procter, Bryan Waller, 2 poems

Reade, Charles, corrections for ms.

Sala, George Augustus Henry, 1 essay

Sheppard, Elizabeth Sara, 6 poems, and misc. verses

Stoddard, Richard Henry, 5 poems

Stowe, Harriet Elizabeth (Beecher), 1 poem; 16 selections from fiction and essays, incl.
Chimney Corner and House and Home Papers

Taylor, Bayard, 2 essays; Poems of Home and Travel, and Poems of the Orient